Yes, Bottling Up Your Feelings Is Bad for You. Here’s Why You Should Let Loose

Even if you are exercising regularly and eating healthfully, bottling up your feelings may increase your stroke risk, preliminary research presented at the North American Menopause Society annual meeting suggests.

Women who silence their negative thoughts had greater buildup of plaque in their carotid arteries.

Open communication can help reduce stress and the health risks that come with it.

When it comes to reducing stroke risk, exercise like running has been shown to be a standout strategy—check out studies like this one and this one—and what you eat matters, too. But preliminary new research suggests you may want to augment your activity and nutrition with one more tactic: Talk about your feelings.

In a study presented during the North American Menopause Society annual meeting recently, researchers found that the more women silence their feelings as a way to keep the peace in close relationships, the higher their risk for carotid plaque buildup. That’s a problem: Since your carotid artery delivers blood to the brain, a buildup of plaque—clumps of cellular debris, calcium, cholesterol, and fibrous tissue—can restrict or even cut off this blood flow, potentially resulting in a stroke.

In the research, 304 perimenopausal and postmenopausal nonsmoking women aged 40 to 60 participated in a survey about cardiovascular health at midlife, answering questions about self-expression in intimate relationships. For example, questions included, “Caring means putting the other person’s needs in front of my own,” and “I rarely express anger at those close to me.”

Participants also provided medical history and underwent ultrasound imaging of their carotid arteries. Their lipids and blood pressure were also checked to determine cardiovascular health.

Greater self-silencing of negative emotions was related to increased risk of plaque buildup, according to study lead author Karen Jakubowski, Ph.D., in the department of psychology at the University of Pittsburgh.

In terms of the connection, she told Runner’s World that previous research has found that self-silencing about depression and anger may be tied to poor sleep, due to anxiety about relationships. Simply put, keeping it all bottled it up stresses you out, and as numerous studies have found, stress is incredibly tough on your body, especially if you’re staying awake because of it. Sleep problems have been linked to carotid plaque development, she said, as well as cardiovascular disease in general. For instance, one study reported that carotid artery walls tend to be thicker in people with sleep apnea.

“The takeaway message here is that women’s emotional expression in their intimate relationships may play a role in their overall physical health,” said Jakubowski. “Clinicians may be able to play a role in supporting women to express their feeling and needs in their relationships, and to help them find relationships that allow for expression.”

While the study didn’t look at men, previous research has linked stress, and particularly emotions like anger, with higher risk of cardiovascular issues. For example, one study(which included both men and women) looked at different types of anger expression, and found that those who gravitate toward “destructive anger rumination”—which means brooding while angry instead of expressing it—and destructive anger, defined as putting blame elsewhere and being less willing to resolve conflict, are more likely to have cardiovascular disease over time.

In other words, you may be doing everything right to bolster your heart health and to reduce stroke risk by exercising regularly and eating right. But if you don’t say what’s really on your mind to the ones who are closest to you, you might not be doing your heart and brain any favors.

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